WIESBADEN, Germany -- Dating back to the early 1700's, critical combat casualty care has played a vital role in the success of armies on and off the battlefield.
According to a 2006 article in the World Journal of Surgery, renowned military leaders such as French Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte have attributed their battlefield successes to the selfless medical care provided to the wounded.
Most times this means on-the-spot care from a highly trained doctor, nurse or combat medic, but when either the flood of casualties is too great, or a medic is too far away, that job falls to the combat lifesaver.
"Combat lifesavers are non-medical personnel who've been trained to provide immediate medical care until medical care from a trained professional can be accessible," Maj. Antonio Chang, the senior physician's assistant for U.S. Army Europe said. "Because of our unique mission here in Europe, many of our combat lifesavers are members of our NATO partners and allies."
INTERNATIONAL COMBAT LIFESAVERS COURSE
The International Combat Lifesavers Course, known as ICLS, was created in 2012 to enhance interoperability, readiness and comradery among the U.S. Army Europe, its NATO allies and partners. The course provides all participates an intense week-long 40-hour training in tactical combat casualty care.
The participants began their 40 hours of training, learning the proper techniques in six different stations, Staff Sgt. Adam Arshansky, the ICLS noncommissioned officer-in-charge said. This included amputee trauma; tactical movement through medical scenarios while under fire; working in stressful environment; medical vet techniques, and medical evacuations. They then take all they've learned into the culminating event.
"We provided these Soldiers with realistic and challenging scenarios," Chang said. "We wanted them to have a better understanding of how to render aid to the wounded under austere conditions … if and when necessary to do so. It's also very important they all learned how to work through their language and cultural differences."
Since its inception five years ago, more than 750 students have attended the ICLS course, to include Germany, Austria, Finland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Ukraine.
In addition to the course's students being from different nations, the training cadre is also an international mix of military retirees, paramedics, doctors, law enforcement officers and helicopter pilots. All instructors are on hand to advise and assist students as they go through the training.
For some participants this was an opportunity to refresh their skills and learn new techniques. For others this was a chance to experience the training with different nations.
"We did most of our work in groups," German Chief Sergeant Pascal Becker-Mosig said. "So it was a bit of a challenge trying to understand the different commands in my team as well as from the instructors. We figured it out…we had to keep it very simple so that everybody could understand."
Mosig said once everyone figured it out, maneuvering through the scenarios became a lot smoother.
For U.S Army Spc. Abbegail Alveranga, a nutrition specialist at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, this course was about finding common ground.
"In a real world situation, there isn't any time for fumbling around," Alveranga said. "This course has taught me to keep it simple when working with our partner nations … in the end we all want to make sure we are all on the same page. The page of -- saving lives."
The ICLS course is offered quarterly by the U.S. Army Europe Office of Command Surgeon for host nation, NATO allies and partners. To learn more about the course, contact Maj. Antonio Chang and Staff Sgt. Adam Arshansky at 0611 0143 537-0058.
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U.S. Army Europe is uniquely positioned in its 51 country area of responsibility to advance American strategic interests in Europe and Eurasia. The relationships we build during more than 1,000 theater security cooperation events in more than 40 countries each year lead directly to support for multinational contingency operations around the world, strengthen regional partnerships and enhance global security.
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